New Toys for Police, new Problems for Bats

"Are you sure?" Dick asked as he stood on the roof and watched as Kara was busy picking the lock on the warehouse below. It had been five days since Lex Luthor and the Mayor had announced a deal. Because of the bio-weapons attack and the increasing insurgency, Lex-Corps had offered to equip Gotham's police with the latest and most advanced anti-riot systems. The entire shipment had now arrived in Gotham and was stored in a large warehouse in the harbor. The security measures were accordingly high and although neither Bruce nor Barbara were available now, Dick decided to check it out. Lex-Corps and Wayne-Tech's technology were largely on a par and it was not unusual to hear an annoyed hiss from Kara after a few seconds.

"If I tell you. 11 seconds!" he then heard her say and swung himself down to her. As promised, she had cracked the gate in under 15 seconds and they both scurried quickly into the warehouse. They had already made sure from the outside that the video cameras were playing in an endless loop, so they could move around undisturbed.

"Shit. What's Lex up to?" Kara asked in shock as she looked at the amount of equipment in front of her. Thanks to the built-in night vision devices the two of them could see everything clearly. But as a precaution she had switched off the dampers to be able to react immediately in case of an emergency. Her cousin had made it clear to her that Lex was a man to be reckoned with.

"He's not going to like that at all." Dick agreed with her as he looked at the number of vehicles and containers. In front of him stood at least 5 heavily armored troop transporters of the latest generation, which already wore the GPD livery and were equipped with Hydro Cannons, but it looked like there could be build heavy guns too, and tear gas launchers. Next to them were a few dozen police cars lined up neatly, looking as if they were Ford Mustang cars. However, it was obvious that these cars had also been heavily modified. A quick scan clearly showed an additional turbocharger unit, massive armor plates and reinforced bulletproof glass. "The thing can easily withstand a 50-caliber bullet. Not very long, but impressive. The big ones must be there for the SWAT. Do you know them?" he asked Kara who was looking at the heavy troop carrier.

"This is the new LL-1921a. Better known as Defender. The heavy version is currently being tested by the US military. Even I would need a few seconds to get through the armor. The military is pretty happy with the protection." She said, tapping lightly on the steel. "Even the heaviest weapons in Gotham will have problems with this thing," she admitted.

"And no offensive weapons systems. Strange."

"The law forbids the use of military equipment in law enforcement." Kara said thoughtfully.

"We should check what's in those containers." Dick said calmly, scurrying back and forth between the lined-up vehicles. Strange as it sounded, he didn't understand what Lex was trying to do with it. He had expected Lex to come here to test the latest weapons or to pull leftist act. But what he could see here was a real gain for the police. The vehicles were state of the art and equipped with everything you could wish for. The police on the streets still drove around in 30-year-old company cars that couldn't even withstand an assault rifle. These vehicles could save many lives.

When they opened the first container they saw neatly lined up bulletproof vests, full body protective suits and equipment for personal protection. A scan convinced him that these things would add to the level of standard police protection.

"What is this? Is this a marketing ploy for him?" he asked when he heard Kara on his radio calling him. When he arrived in her container he cleared his throat in amazement. Everywhere were weapon crates with the logo of Lex-Corp. "Ah. Here comes the Lex we all know."

"Sorry, no." Kara said, handing him one of the guns. "This is an LL-3201. I read about it when I was with babs. A more powerful taser gun. 10-shot needle magazine. Each needle is enough to send a 200000-volt pulse through you. It's still in prototype stage, and the government's about to buy a couple million of them from Lex. Apparently, he wants to field-test it here."

"So, it's a non-lethal weapon?" he asked, and Kara nodded as she pointed to another box where he could read LL-3502.

"This is a portable version of a microwave projector. Creates an uncomfortable heat on the skin and believe me ... I tested it on Jason once at the academy. The little one jumped away after half a second. These systems here are a real asset to Gotham. None of them are lethal." She grudgingly admitted.

"Let's keep looking." Dick said, and they split up again. As Dick looked at a new police helicopter, which roughly reminded him of the movie Blue Thunder, except that this helicopter didn't have a minigun, he heard from Kara that she had found a container full of drones and tracking systems.

"This is not gonna make our job any easier, Dick." She said calmly, and he had to agree with her, but then said

"Maybe, but on the other hand it will give the police a huge boost. You will be one of the best-equipped police forces in the United States."

"He won't like that at all!" he heard Kara laughing and Dick grinning.

"No. He won't like that." Bruce would probably suspect a conspiracy, a diabolical plan or something. But so far, nothing seemed to indicate that he was right. However, Gordon had also expressed skepticism in the press that a private individual had suddenly started supporting the local police. However, Nasty Luthor had swept aside these concerns with the objection that Wayne-Tech had been supplying equipment to the police for years.

"Dick... Jackpot!"

Dick immediately ran to Kara and stood in front of a container unlike any other. In front of it were several tables with smaller pistol and rifle cases. All were open and seemingly set up for a demonstration. But these weapons were not what he was interested in.

The container had a length of almost 50 feet and was half the width and height. It was anything but a standard container. Massive steel plates, multiple reinforced support frames and a security system that looked much more complex secured it against everything underneath a perceived nuclear bomb. Immediately Dick grinned in his costume.

"Shall we see what kind of Turkey is in the oven?"

"Are you always thinking about Alfred's turkey?" Kara asked, already tampering with the castle. But after less than a minute Dick raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong?"

"He is still calculating." She said in surprise and Dick came to her. He looked over her shoulder while Kara's code-breaker was still busy cracking the code.

"I've never seen it take this long before, have you?"

"According to the display, he still reckons... 11 hours!" said Kara and looked up at Dick in horror. "Whatever Lex has in there, he doesn't want anyone to see it.

"Oh, it's probably broken! Let me try it. This is the latest one that Babs and Bruce have built. It'll crack Gotham Main Bank's security code in less than 13 minutes."

He pushed it aside and hooked up his own scanner. After 5 minutes, however, it showed the same result.

"Damn. I never knew Lex had such advanced technology."

"New problem. We triggered an alarm. I hear guards arriving!" Kara suddenly said and grabbed him by the shoulders. With one leap they were in the steel frame of the roof and literally melted into the darkness while they could see below how the guards were searching everything.

Both said at the same time before escaping through a skylight, "He won´t like that".